Heel-attaching machine



Oct. 24, 1944.

R. s. MEGATHLIN HEEL-ATTACHING MACHINE Filed June 16, 1942 Patented Oct. 24, 1944 HEEL-ATTACHING MACHINE.

Ralph S. Megathlin, Wollaston, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application June 1.6, 1942, Serial No. 447,229

4 Claims.

My invention relates to machines for attaching heels to shoes and more particularly to those commonly employed for the insertion of an attaching screw, which may be temporary or permanent, through the heel-seat of a shoe into the heel.

In preparation for the insertion of heel-attaching screws, it is customary to clamp a shoe and heel together and then, with a drill, bore through the heel-seat into the heel a hole of the proper diameter to receive the screw. A machine for this purpose, to which the present invention is especially applicable, is that disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States No, 1,722,992, Bertrand, August 6, 1929, in which the shoe being operated upon is upon a last, through a passage in which the drilling and screw-insertion is effected. Since the drilling mechanism of this machine is held in the hand of the operator and is joined to the power-source through universal and extensible connections which permit its free manipulation, the direction of the force applied by the operator to the handle, to cause the advance or withdrawal of the drill, may not always be in alinement with such movement. Lack of steadiness of the operators hand, together with the displacing effect of the driving connections, may deflect the handle laterally while the drill is retained against accommodating itself to this movement by its engagement with the heel or with the wall of the last-passage. The strain thus thrown upon the drill results in frequent breakage and is a source of considerable expense to shoe-manufacturers. Drills are also broken when the point strikes a metal object in the heelseat, as a shank-piece, this causing abrupt slipping to one side in the clearance which may exist in the last-passage. The handle grasped in the operators hand does not follow the drill, which is therefore subjected to lateral stresses.

It is an object of my invention to guard against the breaking of drills in machines of the aboveindicated character, due to the difference in the direction of movement between the drill and the hand of the operator. To this end, th drillspindle, rotatable through a shaft pendant from a driving shaft journaled above a supported shoe and heel, is formed in upper and lower sections between which is a universal joint. The upper section is connected to the pendant shaft, which is preferably extensible, and said section is surrounded by a handle arranged to be grasped by the operator, while the lower section carries a chuck or holder for the drill or like tool. With this arrangement, any breaking strain which might be set up by movement of the operators hand laterally of the path of the drill, or of the drill with respect to the operators hand, will be relieved by the universal joint. This permits angular movement of either section relatively to the other and the advance of the two portions of the spindle in different directions; With the universal joint is preferably associated yieldable means for holding the spindle-sections, in absence of deflecting forces, in normal alinement with each other and with the axis of the drill, so said drill may be advanced and retracted correctly during its operation. This means is shown as situated within the handle.

One embodiment of my invention appears in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of the improved heel-attaching machine; and

' Fig. 2, an enlarged vertical section through the handle and actuating connections for the drill of the machine.

Upon an upper horizontal arm, which is a portion of the frame In of the machine, is journaled a driving shaft l2. Arranged to swing laterally about this shaft is a casing M, in which a crossshaft I6 is rotatable. About the shaft IS an outer casing [8 may swing in a direction from front torear of the machine. The casings provide a universal mounting for a depending shaft,

designated as a whole by S, the upper section 20 of which is journaled in the casing I8 and driven from the shaft l2 b a chain of bevel-gearing 22. The shaft S is extensible, its section 20 being joined telescopically to the lower section 24 by a projection-and-slot connection 26. A universal joint 28 unites the shaft-section 24 to a drilling device D, which is adapted to be manipulated by the operator. This device co-operates with a support W for a lasted shoe and a heel to be attached, this support being carried by the frame below the suspension of the shaft S and somewhat at one side thereof. The work is clamped upon the support by a treadle-actuated arm 30. It will be seen that the operator is permitted by its connections to move the drilling device freely for operation upon the supported work, universally swinging it in any direction horizontally about its upper mounting, and at the same time approximating a vertical position for the device itself by the movement about the joint 28. The device may be advanced and retracted because of the extensibility of the shaft S.

Considering the construction of the drilling device D, to the universal joint 28 is connected the upper section 32 of a drill-spindle s, the lower section 34 of which may be formed as a chuck. This receives the shank of a drill 36 secured in place by a set-screw 38. Spindle-sections 32 and 34 are joined by a universal joint M), which may be of the intersecting-pivot-type. The spindlesection 32 is shouldered at 42, and surrounding and free to turn about the reduced upper portion 44 of the spindle is a handle 46, arranged to be grasped b the operator. The handle is held between a thrust-bearing 48 resting against the shoulder 42, and a like hearing 50 which abuts against a collar 52 secured to the upper portion of the spindle-section 32 by a set-screw 54. When not in use, the drilling device may be held upon the frame [9, ready to be taken by the operator, by a hook 55 clamped upon the upper extremity of the handle by a nut 56.

About and below the bearing 48, a space 5'! is formed within the handle, and in this space, between the bearing and a sleeve 58 surrounding the spindle-section 32, is an expansion-spring 60, also encircling the spindle. The lower extremity of the handle is expanded into a skirt 62, within which upon the end of the sleeve 58 is a plane surface 64 lying at the intersection of the pivots of the universal joint 40. Upon the upper end of the sleeve 58, the spring 60 rests, forcing it against a plane surface 66 upon the upper extremity of a'sleeve 68 surrounding the upper portion of the spindle-section 34, and urged by the spring into contact with a shoulder upon the latter. By the engagement of the parallel surfaces 64 and 66, the axes of the spindle-sections 32 and 34 are normally held in alinement, so the operator generally may manipulate the drilling device D as though the drill 36 were carried by a spindle integral beyond the universal joint 23. When, however, there is applied to the device a lateral stress tending to throw the spindle-sections out of alinement, one of the meeting surfaces 64 and 66 will tilt upon the other, compressing the spring 60. This allows the spindle-sections to shift angularly in relation to each other Without breaking the drill.

In using the machine, the operator clamps upon the support W a heel A and a shoe B, having within it a last C, and removing by its handle 46 the drilling device D from its mounting upon the frame, he positions said device vertically over the work with its longitudinal axis in registration with a passage c within the last-cone. He then lowers the drill, which is constantly rotating and with the spindle-sections held in alinement by the contacting surfaces 64 and 66 and the actuating spring 60, into the passage. Through this it is advanced to such a depth that it bores through the heel-seat of the shoe and into the heel sufficiently to receive a screw. This screw, which may be for engagement with the crown of the last-cone and used to retain the cup of the heel against the heel-seat until an interposed adhesive is set, is inserted by mechanism disclosed in the previously mentioned patent and not here illustrated. In the manipulation of the drill during its movement into and out of the work, the operators hand'may be displaced laterally from the proper direction of advance, carrying with it the handle 46. Or, the drill may be similarly displaced by meeting an obstruction in the work. 'The liability for the handle to be thus affected is increased by the sideways pull applied to said handle by the suspended shaft S. In absence of the yieldable connections of this invention, the drill -might be subjected to a force which would cause it to be broken. Before this can occur, oneside of the surface .64 will separate from the surface 66, or the reverse, the spring 50 compressing and then expanding upon the removal of the displacing force to restore the spindle=sections to their normal alinement. By thus taking 'up 'thelateral stresses upon the drill, the liability to breakage is reduced to a minimum.

Having thu described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a heel-attaching machine, a frame, a support for a shoe and heel, a driving shaft rotatable upon the frame above the support, an extensible shaft joined to the driving shaft for lateral movement, a drill-spindle comprising an upper and a lower section, the upper section being connected to the extensible shaft, said sections having means at their adjacent ends provided with contacting plane surfaces, a spring by which such surfaces are forced into normal engagement, a universal joint between the sections, a handle surrounding the upper section and arranged to be grasped by the operator, and a chuck carried by the lower section.

2. In a heel-attaching machine, a frame, a support for a shoe and heel, a driving shaft rotatable upon the frame above the support, an extensible shaft joined to the driving shaft for lateral movement, a drill-spindle comprising an upper and a lower section, the upper section being connected to the extensible shaft, said sections having means at their adjacent ends provided with contacting plane surfaces, a spring by which such surfaces are forced into normal engagement, a universal joint between the sections, a handle surrounding the upper section and arranged to be grasped by the operator, the contacting surfaces of the sections and the spring being within the handle, and a chuck carried by the lower section.

3. In a heel-attaching machine, a frame, a support for a shoe and heel, a driving shaft rotatable upon the frame above the support, a pendent shaft joined to the driving shaft for universal movement, a drill-spindle comprising an upper and a lower section, the upper section being connected to the pendent shaft, a handle arranged to be grasped by the operator and surrounding and free to turn upon the upper spindle-section, a chuck carried by the lower spindlesection and in which a drill may be clamped, and a universal joint between the sections of the drillspindle permitting relative lateral movement of the operators hand grasping the handle with respect to the drill clamped in the chuck, thereby avoiding breaking strains upon the drill.

4. In a heel-attaching machine, a frame, a support for a shoe and heel, a driving shaft rotatable upon the frame above the support, a pendent shaft joined to the driving shaft for uni-, versal movement, a drill-spindle comprising an upper and a lower section, the upper section being connected to the pendent shaft, a handle arranged to be grasped by the operator and surrounding and free to turn upon the upper spindle-section, a chuck carried by the lower spindlesection and in which a drill may be clamped, a

universal joint between the sections of the drillspindle permitting relative lateral movement of the operators hand grasping the handle with respect to the drill clamped in the chuck, thereby avoiding breaking strains upon the drill, and yieldable means for holding the spindle-sections in absence of deflecting forces in alinement with each other.

RALPH S. MEGATI-lLlN, 

